| Every week, I answer a question from the Monday Act Four Live chat in the Wednesday edition of this newsletter. You can read the transcript of the Oct. 30 chat here and submit questions for the Nov. 6 chat here. This week, a reader is concerned about Halloween and the state of the country. I have seen a dozen stories on Facebook about costumes and race. There was the one about Lili Reinhart’s all-black costume being called blackface, others saying sugar skulls are not for “white people,” or that Moana is only for Polynesians. How can we ever come together as a country if groups of people feel they own exclusive rights to a costume? I get the cowboy and Indian stereotype, but most people pick a Halloween costume because it is something they really like, not because they want to mock a culture. I know I’m writing this the day after Halloween, but I hope I can be reassuring going forward. I actually think a couple of simple rules would guide all of us well when picking Halloween costumes, one of which the original poster in the chat has identified. First, it’s a bad idea to wear a costume that involves changing the color of your skin to a skin tone possessed by another person. There is a long and sordid history of performers dressing up as people of other races either to demean them — like in minstrelsy — or to deny them work — Mickey Rooney playing a Japanese character in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” both denied an actual Japanese or Japanese American actor the opportunity to play that part and turned it into a racist stereotype. No matter what your intentions might be, it’s impossible to separate the execution from that history. If you want to paint your skin blue, or green, or purple, go nuts. Just don’t do anything that might make you seem as though you’re dressing up as a person of another race. Second, don’t dress up as a stereotype or simply as “someone of another culture.” Clearly, the original poster here knows that it’s not great to dress up as some sort of generic Native American, and that sort of good common sense will protect all of us from a lot of misunderstandings. So skip the “rapper” costume. Skip what the bloggers Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan once described as the “Sexy Person Of Vaguely Hawaiian Origin As An Excuse To Wear a Coconut Bra.” Think about your costume for two whole seconds, and you’ll probably know if it falls into this category. If you’re very enthusiastic about another culture in general, take a minute to think about whether you’d be upset about it if someone adopted your own culture as a costume, without being entirely clear on what those cultural signifiers mean. Something that may seem aesthetically attractive to you may be sacred to someone else; it’s why you don’t see a lot of folks dressing up as, say, the Virgin Mary for Halloween. Third, and some of you may disagree with me here, but I’m going to issue a ruling: It’s fine for people to dress up as specific fictional characters of any race, as long as they don’t try to match their skin tone to the character’s race and it’s clear that you’re dressed up as a character, not a stereotype. Humans of all races and genders should feel free to dress up as the very Nordic Elsa from “Frozen,” white-blonde wig and all, because she’s awesome. I think it’s fine for kids to dress up as Moana if that’s what floats their outrigger canoe, as long as their parents don’t go overboard trying to make them look as though they are part of a race that they’re not. In other words, if you want to dress up as a character you really love, make sure your costume is so great that your genuine enthusiasm for that character will be obvious, and not get overshadowed by some obvious insensitivity. |
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